TWENTY-ONE YEARS BEFORE

The 5-year-old child was playing alone outside her Japanese grandfather's house.

The property was surrounded by gardens, trees, and lakes, like a typical noble's mansion.

Byul-Yi had no memory of her mother. And her father was a very busy man.

So the child had been raised by nannies and other employees.

Since she was a quiet and gentle little girl, people would get easily distracted by their chores and forget about her.

While walking around the garden,  the cute princess saw some orange fishes in the pond and got enchanted.

Byul-YI slipped on a humid rock and fell into the water.

Scared, the child panicked because her heavy dress was preventing her from leaving the small lake.

Luckily, the gardener was passing and saw the princess battling to survive and quickly rescued her.

After the initial shock, Byul-YI burst into tears and her grandfather heard her.

The old man came running and hugged his daughter's seed with tenderness.

_____ What happened?_____ Mr. Moon arrived Unexpectedly 

_____ Byul-YI hime sama fell into the pond, Sir.____ The gardener spoke with respect.

Furious, the man glared at the child and ordered:

____, Come here, Byul-Yi.

Still crying, the 5-year-old hesitantly walked toward her father and looked up.

_____ Appa...

Using the back of his hand, Mr. Moon slapped the little girl's face and she fell to the floor like a leaf carried by the wind.

_____ Don't you dare be weak like your mother! If you continue crying, I'm going to give you reasons for this.

The gardener was so shocked and frightened that he left the area in silence.

The grandfather shook his head with sorrow but remained silent.

The old man had lost his power and his health, which turned him into a coward.

Meanwhile, the child focused her sight on some ants and swallowed her tears.

Byul-Yi might be just a baby. Yet, she had been forced to face reality since she learned to talk.

It was the last time the princess cried in front of anybody.

It didn't matter how much pain she might be suffering, the little girl taught herself to mask her emotions.

The rare occasions the girl would allow herself to be a child and share affection were related to her grandfather and his servants.

Other than that, she would hear Mr. Moon show his disgust for the Japanese and Chinese,  which was a direct disrespect to his daughter's ancestors on her mother's side.

The man despised his father-in-law and the old man's employees. And he just tolerated any interaction for ambition.

That was also the only reason why he supported his child's engagement with a Japanese boy from another noble family.

____ x ____

Byul-YI was 13 when she fell in love for the first time.

The cute princess got completely infatuated with her female piano instructor.

Being raised to become a wife, the teen had her days packed with all types of classes, including cooking lessons and other things that she hated.

The only way Byul-YI found to escape that suffocating environment was by sleeping less and using that time to learn anything of her interest on her own.

Nonetheless, the piano instructor noticed that the pale girl seemed worn out and unfocused since the first class and treated her with tenderness.

Instead of pushing the princess to do better out of obligation, the woman tried to be understanding and talked to her.

That woke the teenager's passion for music and she became really close to the instructor.

After six months,  Byul-YI had become so obsessed with the piano lessons that she would take any chance to neglect the other topics she hated.

At first, Mr. Moon didn't notice because he was always too busy. However, the man ordered a report about his daughter's progress.

Infuriated, the older man fired the piano instructed and got home to tell off his daughter.

Confused about the woman's absence, the young girl stared at her father in disbelief when he entered the house screaming.

______ How dare you disobey me and waste time with unimportant things like piano classes while you put aside your real obligations?

Gulping, the teenager murmured:

_____ Real obligations...Like...learning how to cook and decorate flowers...

_____ You are just a girl. Women are born to serve their men. Even if they are princesses. In your case, this title means nothing at all. Your mother was a disappointment and a shame. She couldn't even give me an heir. And failed as a mother to you. You must make up for her failures.

The 13-year-old felt her eyes burning and she feared the tears would jump off them. So she bit her lips internally until the physical pain was temporarily stronger than the emotional one.

 _____ Appa, I promise I will be the best student in any subject you want. But please,  bring my piano instructor back.

_____ You know more than enough to entertain your husband and his guests when the time comes. Also, the staff hired by your grandfather is very mellow and inappropriate for someone in your class. From now on, you will have a whole new staff. Enough of those weak Japanese maids. 

_____ You fired... all of them? Every person who worked in the house since I was a baby?_____ Byul-YI was in shock.

______ Obviously. In two days, they will be substituted by a better team. You will be closely supervised by Mrs. Park, an excellent housekeeper. She will report it directly to me.

Although she wanted to scream and cry, the princess kept her head down and didn't say a word.

Once she was in her room, the younger girl used a dagger to slightly cut her finger and watched some blood dropping on the floor.

_____ Kings, soldiers, or ordinary people. They all have red blood, don't they? Any of them may easily perish under illness or murder. Why does he act as if he was better? Won't we all have the same end? Death is what connects people. 

Dep